Song of the Day: De Lux – Better At Making Time

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole, is “Better At Making Time” by De Lux from the 2013 De Lux EP on Scion AV.

More often than not, off chances seem to be behind all of the key events in the story of De Lux, the L.A. modern-disco duo of Sean Guerin and Isaac Franco. When the pair met at the age of 18, it was as they were both finishing high school and learning to skateboard at the same time. The pair met after both falling off their respective boards, and after an initial introduction, they ended up as friends and co-musicians. While rehearsing for their then-current band, Franco was playing a groove-laden bassline that caught Geurin’s ear, the duo added a few more components, and unexpectedly, the first pieces of “Better At Making Time” became the duo’s first song as De Lux. If Duran Duran had met Nile Rodgers while they were still in their ’82-83 prime, they might have produced a slice of new wave-y disco like “Better At Making Time”. Popping bass, an undeniable four-on-the-floor beat, and the ever-reliable spiky Rodgers-esque guitar all come together to flank Guerin and Franco’s gang vocals, rising and falling across seven and a half minutes of disco bliss. In the ’80s, “Better At Making Time” would have been a club smash that would (probably) only have improved in extended 12″ edit form, but in 2014, it more than adequately serves as a prime cut of dancefloor filler for festival tents and sweaty venues everywhere.

De Lux’s only booked show at the moment is a gig at GAP at The Grove in Los Angeles on February 11th, so if they announce more shows, that news will be on the band’s Twitter page. Below, watch the band’s video for “Better At Making Time”.